Release Date: 11th June 2012
‘Scandinavia’ is the freshest sound to have come from the MLTR stable of music. I remember Mikkel insisting that MLTR were trying to re-find the 90’s MLTR sound. Well, let me tell you, they didn’t quite do that, but they did something different – so different it has come as an immensely positive surprise! The guitar work is elegant and occasionally, pleasantly boisterous, which shows Mikkel has been sweating it out a lot. In MLTR’s personal history, ‘Scandinavia’ will become a by-word for experimentation and freshness. The sound is introspective here, retrospective there, ambivalent now, vivacious then – a very beautiful mish mash of varied styles and colours.
However, if you are looking for Jascha’s trademark accent, inflections and huskiness from the previous albums, you will not find it here. Rather, Jascha has let himself free here and given it a personal touch, employing the accent you would hear from him during normal conversation.
I would pick these tracks as the best -‘Any Way You Want It’ for the classic MLTR rock-ballad touch, ‘Hanging On’ for the soothing feel, ‘Shanghaid In Tokyo’ for a completely new and peppy MLTR exploration of rock music & ‘Renovate My Life’ for some awesome guitar-work. In a somewhat typical MLTR practice of recent times, ‘Space Commander’ and ‘Crazy World’ represent the dance/disco genre on this album, albeit with some interesting lyrics and catchy embellishments. ‘Please Forgive Me’, ‘Heaven Is My Alibi’ and ‘Icebreaker’ are musings on relationships, with deep lyrics and finally, ‘Scandinavia’ is MLTR’s tribute to their homeland, told in the form of a kind of a coming-back-to-home narrative.
Having said that, listeners with a discerning aural ability and varied choice of bands, would be led to see strains of Coldplay’s ‘Myloto Xyloto’ and RHCP’s ‘I’m With You’ albums in this. All in all, a good, memorable package. A new personal benchmark for MLTR!
P.S. : MLTR’s quest for re-invention also extends to the booklet cover, unique for an MLTR album.
©Asiman Panda June 2012
The Timber Trawler 